Computer Animation Primer
By David Fox and Mitchell Waite, published 1984

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     Cover
     Title page
     Library of Congress Cataloging Information
     Authors' dedication
     Table of Contents
     Preface
     Acknowledgments

PART 1

CHAPTER 1: Animation Perspectives
     1.1: Welcome to Computer Animation
     1.2: Our Premise
     1.3: About The Book
     1.4: What Is Animation?
     1.5: What is Computer Animation?
     1.6: A Little History of Animation
     1.7: How is Computer Animation Used Today?
     1.8: Getting Started in Animation Today

CHAPTER 2: Computer Animation Hardware
     2.1: The CRT Canvas
     2.2: Stroke Graphics
     2.3: Raster Graphics
     2.4: The Graphics Computer - A First Look
     2.5: The Bit and The Pixel
     2.6: Adding Gray Scale
     2.7: Adding Color to The Display
     2.8: Frame Buffers
     2.9: Getting The Frame Buffer Image On Film
     2.10: Encoding The Picture In The Buffer
     2.11: Color Mapping
     2.12: Video Mixing Via Bit Planes
     2.13: Other Encoding Techniques
     2.14: Advanced Graphics Hardware
     2.15: Personal Computer Graphics Hardware
     2.16: Color In The Personal Computer
     2.17: Memory-Mapped Video and Text Storage
     2.18: Character Graphics
     2.19: Graphics Peripherals

CHAPTER 3: Computer Animation Software And Applications
     3.1: Graphics Software - The Basics
     3.2: Transformations
     3.3: Clipping and Windowing
     3.4: Fills and Scan Conversion
     3.5: Three-Dimensional Representations
     3.6: Curves and Surfaces
     3.7: Hidden Line and Surface Removal
     3.8: Shading
     3.9: Antialiasing Lines
     3.10: Personal Computer Animation Software
     3.11: High-Tech Digital Paint Systems
     3.12: Computer-Assisted and Computer-Generated Animation
     3.13: The Making of TRON
     3.14: An Animation House - Examples
     3.15: An Apple for Animation - James Leatham

CHAPTER 4: Personal Computer Animation Features
     4.1: Format of This Chapter
     4.2: BASIC Graphics Statements
     4.3: Special Hardware Features
     4.4: Graphics and Text Modes
     4.5: Graphics Language Statements
     4.6: Players and Sprites
     4.7: Hardware Scrolling
     4.8: Graphics Characters
     4.9: Custom Character Sets
     4.10: Color Registers
     4.11: Vertical Blank Interrupts
     4.12: Display Lists and Display List Interrupts
     4.13: Speed of Plotting

COLOR SECTION

PART 2
     Introduction

CHAPTER 5: Character Set Animation
     5.1: Built-in Character Sets - Making Do with What You Have
     5.2: User-Defined Character Sets - A Bouncy Walking Man
     5.3: Flipping Character Sets - The Galloping Horse
     5.4: Exploding with a Three-Color Character Set

CHAPTER 6: Color Register Animation
     6.1: Why Color Registers?
     6.2: Creating Motion with Color Registers
     6.3: The Trench Program
     6.4: Autumn Waterfall Program

CHAPTER 7: Player-Missile Graphics
     7.1: Why Player-Missile Graphics?
     7.2: Player Motion
     7.3: Player Parameters
     7.4: Watch the Bouncing Ball - Using PM Graphics

CHAPTER 8: Using Machine Language Routines in BASIC Programs
     8.1: What is Machine Language?
     8.2: Moving Players with PMOVER
     8.3: Automatic Animation with ANIMATE
     8.4: Setting a Horizontal Velocity with AUTOMOVE
     8.5: Player Foreground for the Great Movie Cartoon

CHAPTER 9: Creating A Scrolling Background
     9.1: The Display List Revised
     9.2: The Scrolling Background Program
     9.3: The Great Movie Cartoon

APPENDICES
     A: Complete Listings of BASIC Program Examples
     B: Character Set Grid/ATARI ROM Character Set
     C: Listing Conventions
     D: The String Loader Program
     E: Complete List of Parameter Table Entries for Black Box Routines
     F: Source Code Listings of Assembly Language Routines
     G: ATARI Hardware and Shadow Registers
     H: Graphics Memory Map Modes

INDEX
     Back Cover

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This site maintained by Kay Savetz.Computer Animation Primer is copyright © 1984 by David Fox and Mitchell Waite, and is posted on www.atariarchives.org with permission. Do not redistribute, mirror, or copy this online book. You can contact David Fox at David@electriceggplant.com.